If you’re serious about lifting barbells, sooner or later you’re probably going to want a belt. Belts don’t prevent injury as people sometimes assume, but they do help you to lift more weight. This helps you to squat and deadlift heavier—thus get stronger—so they’re standard equipment for a lot of strong people.
We have a guide here to understanding what belts are for, how they work, and who needs them. But once you get the basic idea, you’ll probably still have questions. So let’s dig in.
When should you buy a weightlifting belt?
Every coach has their own opinion on when is the right time for a new trainee to buy a belt. Some might want to see you lift a certain weight first, or demonstrate a certain amount of skill at the big lifts. But the truth is, there’s no agreed-upon dividing line between people who need a belt and people who don’t. A belt is a tool that anybody can use, at any point in their lifting career. It doesn’t make up for not knowing how to brace, so it makes sense to learn how to brace first. But a belt can help you learn how to brace, since you can feel your belly pushing against the belt when you’re doing it right.
In my opinion, if you’re wondering whether you should get a belt, it’s probably time to get a belt. A lot of the good ones need to be ordered online, and some have a lead time of several weeks, so you might not actually get the belt until a month or two after you decide you’re ready—in other words, you may want to order your belt sooner rather than later.
Which kind of weightlifting belt should you get?
If you search for “weightlifting belt” online, you’ll get tons of results, many of them marketed to gym goers who want to look cool but who don’t really understand what a belt is for. Let me cut through the marketing to say: There are only a few kinds of belts that strength sport athletes commonly wear.
A velcro belt
First, there’s the 4-inch velcro belt. I’m starting here because it’s a good all-purpose belt, cheaper than the leather ones we’re about to talk about, and it’s arguably easier to adjust and wear, too. I have one from 2Pood, which is a popular brand among Olympic weightlifters and Crossfitters. These belts are 4 inches wide, they close with a velcro strap, and they have a locking mechanism around the strap so that it won’t pop open even if the velcro fails mid-lift. The velcro will wear out over time, although mine has put up with more than three years of frequent use and it’s still going strong.
Velcro belts will generally run you between $30 and $70, depending on the brand and any special features, like custom colors.
Next are leather belts that buckle like, well, a traditional belt. These look like a comically large version of a regular belt: either 3 or 4 inches wide, and made of a thick leather that is usually either 10 or 13 millimeters. The buckle is enormous to match. (When I got my first belt in the mail, I laughed. I couldn’t imagine wearing it out in public. But now I just see it as a normal piece of gym equipment.)
There are double-prong belts, which look cool, but they can be really annoying to operate. Remember, you’ll be taking it off and putting it on (or loosening and tightening it) between sets. The second prong doesn’t make the belt any more secure, but it does make it fussier to fasten.
In addition to my velcro belt, I have a single-prong leather belt as well, and mine is a Pioneer cut with offset holes. This way, instead of choosing between two holes that are an inch apart, I can adjust the belt in 1/2-inch increments.
Instead of a buckle, you may prefer a lever belt. Instead of placing a buckle prong through the hole of your choice when you put it on, you use a screwdriver to install the lever into the appropriate hole in the belt. Then you simply close the lever to lock it closed, and pop it open when you’re ready to take the belt off. The “pop” can be satisfying after a big lift—see this clip of Jessica Buettner for an example. (I do not have a lever belt. I am slightly jealous of people who do.)
These belts are available in the same common sizes as the good single-prong belts: 3 or 4 inches wide, 10 mm or 13 mm thick. Pioneer, the same company that makes my adjustable prong belt, also sells an adjustable lever that gives you a little bit of room to fasten the belt tighter or looser without having to take the lever off with a screwdriver. (Pioneer isn’t paying me to shill for them, I just happen to like their adjustable designs.) For an example of a non-adjustable, Inzer’s Forever lever is a popular and durable design.
Good quality leather belts, both prong and lever, cost more than velcro. $100 to $150 would be a typical price range, with the thicker belts usually being more expensive. (Again, custom colors and designs will run you a bit more.)
Your waist measurement will tell you the length of belt you should order; refer to the sizing chart on the belt company’s website to find the right size. If you’re between sizes, consider whether you’re likely to get bigger or smaller over time. For example, if you know you’ll be losing weight, you may want a belt that will still fit if you get a bit slimmer. On the other hand, it’s normal to gain muscle mass as you get stronger, and you may want to have the room to get bigger without having to buy a whole new belt.
When it comes to the width, 4 inches is standard. (The maximum width allowable in competition is usually 4 inches for powerlifting and 12 centimeters, or 4.7 inches, in weightlifting.) The advice I got when I was a beginner is that almost everybody likes a 4-inch belt for squatting, but that some people prefer a 3-inch belt for deadlifts. I ended up getting mine in a 3-inch size, and it fits well for both lifts. Some people prefer a 4-inch belt for both lifts, but wear it higher on their waist for deadlifts. If you’re not sure, see if you can borrow a belt to try on.
The next thing to decide, if you’re buying a leather belt, is whether to get your belt in a thickness of 10 millimeters or 13 millimeters. If in doubt, get the 10 mm. Thirteen is very thick, and many people find it makes the belt uncomfortably stiff, especially at the edges. If you are an enormous person and already very strong, you might need the 13 mm. But in that case, you will probably come to that conclusion through experience over time. If you’re reading this, that’s probably not you, and you want the 10 millimeter.
So are there belts you shouldn’t buy? Arguably, yes:
Double prong belts are fussier to open and close, and they aren't any stronger than single prong. If you want a buckle, most people will be happier with the single prong kind.
Velcro belts without a lock can pop open mid-lift. Look for one that has a locking mechanism that holds the strap in place, like those from 2Pood or Gymreapers.
Tapered belts, with a wide back and a narrow front, used to be popular among Olympic weightlifters. They aren’t used as much anymore, though; velcro belts have largely replaced them. Most tapered belts you’ll see online are lower quality ones aimed at people just trying to look cool in the gym. Fine as a fashion choice, but they wouldn’t be my first pick. That said, if you already have one, might as well use it. It will be fine.
Really cheap weightlifting belts (like the $20 ones you might find on Amazon) won’t last as long and might not perform as well, but they honestly aren’t terrible. If you aren’t sure whether you need a belt at all, I wouldn’t blame you for buying the cheap thing first and upgrading later.
With that information, you should be well equipped to buy a belt that meets your needs. A locking velcro belt or a 10 millimeter straight leather belt, depending on your preference, will be best for most people. Now, whether you want a plain black belt or a custom colored sequin design, that’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.
When you’re new to running, or getting back into it, the last thing you need is one more barrier. Shoes, appropriate clothes, sweat-resistant sunscreen: These things are hard to do without. But those running watches that it seems like everyone has? You don’t need one on your first day. You don’t even need your phone.
It's kind of strange that fitness has become almost synonymous with tracking fitness: How many steps are you taking? How many calories are you burning? How many minutes per mile was your pace when you went jogging this morning? What was your heart rate?
But you don’t need to know any of this. You can just go for a run, and the results are recorded in the very fibers of your muscles. Your heart and lungs know how hard they worked, and they are in the process of adapting so that they’ll be able to serve you better next time. This process does not require you, at any point, to look at numbers on a screen. So do you need a Garmin, a Fitbit, an Apple Watch, or any of their kin? Absolutely not.
What a running watch provides, and how to do without
I’ve run with a variety of devices and apps over the years, and right now I’m gearing up to review a series of running apps—you can look for those articles in the weeks to come. But my little secret is that I actually prefer to do most of my running without a watch or even a phone app.
Ever since I dusted off my running shoes earlier this spring—about six weeks ago—I’ve been running multiple times each week without a watch. I have a vague idea of time and mileage, but no precise numbers. My brain is empty of thoughts except for “don’t go too fast” and “turn around when I get to the main road.” So here is the data that I’m not getting from a running watch, and how to do without it:
Distance
The watch tells you: how far you’ve gone. Want to run 3 miles? Turn around when your watch says 1.5. You can also add up your miles at the end of the week.
How to do without: Measure a route beforehand. You can use Google Maps (right-click and select “measure distance,” or just plan a walking route through the normal interface). For a nicer interface, use an app like Footpath. The free version lets you measure routes but not save them; honestly, creating a route and then taking a screenshot is good enough for our purposes here. If you’re going to pay for an app with route planning, you might as well get Strava—but more on that later.
You can plan the route before you go, and then when you’ve finished the route, you know you’ve done your mileage. It can be handy to have a few routes on hand for common distances you like to run. There’s a 5-mile loop at my local park, for example, and I know exactly where to jog in my neighborhood if I want a 2-miler.
To keep track of distance from day to day, you can keep a note in your phone, or add it to your training journal.
Time
The watch tells you: how long you’ve been running.
How to do without: In the olden days, you’d use a dumbwatch to track time, or even just look at the clock before you leave home and then again when you come back. Where a watch-user knows that their run was 32 minutes and five seconds, you are free from worrying about such minutia and can be happy to know that you were running for about half an hour.
You can also use a stopwatch on your phone to track the time, if you really want to know. You can also just estimate from your mileage: That three-mile route will take about 30 minutes if you run at a 10:00 pace.
The watch tells you: how many minutes it’s taken you to run each mile; also, what pace you are going right now.
How to do without: Go by feel. If you’re a beginner, the exact pace doesn’t matter; do easy runs at a speed that feels easy. Do faster intervals at a pace that feels challenging but doesn’t leave you gassed. The exact numbers aren’t important.
If you’re an experienced runner, use that experience! How do you feel when you’re running 10-minute miles? 8-minute miles? Run at an effort level that feels right for the programmed run, and every now and then you can run a race or time yourself on a track to recalibrate.
Heart rate
The watch tells you: your current heart rate, and maybe the “zone” you’re in.
How to do without: Honestly, if you’re a beginner, don’t use heart rate at all. Heart rate can be a useful number once you have a pretty good handle on what your personal heart rate is at different effort levels. But the way most watches and apps calculate heart rate is with an error-prone formula that often sets the zones too high or too low.
As a beginner, the only thing that really matters is that you do your easy runs at an easy pace, not a gut-busting breakneck speed that ends up being unsustainable. So, go with perceived effort here too. Do you feel like you could keep this up almost forever? Like you could talk on the phone with only a little bit of heavy breathing? That’s the famous “zone 2.” See, you didn’t need a heart rate monitor after all.
If you're an experienced runner, you probably get more use out of pace data than heart rate data, anyway—but you can always use a chest strap connected to your phone if you'd like the numbers.
Not all watches have this feature, and even among people who have running watches, not everyone uses the coaching. But yes, some watches and some apps provide a running plan, telling you how many miles, at what pace, to run each day. They may also give you guided runs, with a coach in your ear telling you when to speed up and slow down.
Without a watch, you’re on your own for this stuff. But you can also find a plan online that’s not tied to any particular app. Hal Higdon says I’m running 3 miles on Tuesday? Well then, I’ll go out on Tuesday and run (roughly, approximately) 3 miles.
How I train without a running watch
Putting all of this together, here’s what it looks like for me. First of all, I started my running habit this year by getting consistent with my morning walk (30 minutes, so about 1.5 miles.) Over the course of a week, I started adding some bits of running to my walk, slowing down when I got winded or uncontrollably itchy, and after about two weeks, I was running pretty much the whole 1.5 miles in relative comfort. The following week, I started adding a little mileage—doing 2 miles most morning instead of 1.5.
This worked beautifully as a gentle re-introduction to running, and honestly? I don’t think I would have done it this way if I were wearing a watch. It would have been demoralizing to see that my “running” pace was so much slower than what I was logging last year. But once I was in the habit, it was easy to add mileage.
These days, I have a few neighborhood routes in mind. I put on my sun visor and headphones when I go out with the kids to wait for the bus, and as soon as they leave I turn and head off on one of my 3-mile (usually) routes.
I keep track of my mileage in a notebook. Three miles, five times a week, is 15 miles. If I miss a morning or if I want to add more time on my feet, I’ll add another run in the evening or on a weekend day. I’ll usually head to a nearby park where I know the mileage of my favorite trails and roads. If I’d like to try a new route, I’ll pick an album that is about as long as I’d like my run to be (many are around 45 minutes, which is perfect) and take note of which song occurs at the halfway point. When I hear that song, I turn around. That’s a 45-minute run in the books—in the ballpark of four miles or so.
You sure can! If you’re looking at that list above and thinking “aww, I wish I had that data,” wish no more! There are tons of running apps that can track distance, duration, and pace in real time, even speaking up through your headphones to let you know your split times each mile.
Pros of phone based running apps:
No need to buy special equipment like a watch.
Numbers are available anytime you want to pull your phone out and look at them.
You’re probably bringing your phone anyway to listen to music.
You’ll get a map of your run after the fact (thanks to your phone’s GPS).
The app will keep track of your mileage over time.
Cons of phone based running apps:
You may not want to see all those numbers, especially if the thought of logging a “bad” average pace makes you rush warmups or skip walking breaks.
GPS tracking on phones is not as accurate as the tracking on watches.
GPS tracking tends to run a phone’s battery down faster than if you weren’t using the GPS.
I enjoy the guidance I get from running apps if I’m doing a specific workout—like one I tried recently that involved segments of 0.6, 0.5, and 0.35 miles. No way was I going to track that manually, but the pleasant voice in my ear told me exactly when to start and stop each interval, and cued me to speed up or slow down if I was getting off pace.
If you do decide to get a running watch later on, they’ll have the same features as the phone apps, but with better battery life and an easier way to view the numbers.
What are the best running apps to use if you don’t have a phone?
The classic is Strava. In fact, if the community aspect of a running app or watch is what’s most important to you, you’ll definitely want to get on Strava. People who log their runs on a Garmin or another device will often upload to Strava so they can have everything in one place. But you can also “record” a run from the Strava app directly, no extra device needed. Just beware that the social features can end up revealing your location, so dip into the privacy settings to make sure you aren’t sharing more than you intend.
How do you track mileage when running without a watch?
Measure or estimate the length of each run, ideally by measuring on a tool like Google Maps or Footpath. (In the olden days, we would sometimes drive a route and use the odometer.)
Add up your mileage over time by keeping notes on a calendar (paper or digital), a notebook (paper or digital), or any other way you’d keep track of a running tally.
How do you pace yourself when running without a watch?
By paying attention to your body. For an easy or “zone 2” pace, you’ll want to feel like you’re breathing easy and like you can keep going forever. Faster paces might feel harder, but they’ll still be sustainable enough that you can make it the entire distance you intend, without collapsing into a heap by the end. You’ll learn over time what each appropriate pace feels like.
On guided runs, offered by many running apps, the coach or narrator will help you figure out the right effort level. They might ask you to aim for a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10, or they might describe in words how your body should feel when you’re at a given pace.
Do I need a watch to run a marathon?
You don’t make it to the start line of a marathon without having a decent amount of running experience under your belt. And these days, when you’ve been running regularly for the amount of time it takes to build a base and then train for a marathon…you’ll probably have already given in to the temptation to buy a running watch.
But it’s not necessary in any way. You can do your training by mapping out routes ahead of time, gauging your pace based on how you feel, and writing down your weekly mileage in a notebook. This is how almost everybody trained until running watches became more accessible about 10 or 15 years ago. The race organizers are keeping track of your time (there’s a chip in your bib, usually), and they’ll post mile markers along the course so you know where you are.
On race day, you probably won’t want to use your running app; it drains battery, and you’ll be out there a long time. Instead, you can pace yourself by wearing a basic stopwatch and comparing your time at each mile marker with pre-calculated split times. Sound complicated? It’s not—just grab one of these temporary tattoos that has them all calculated for you.
When my cheap Amazon spin bike broke, I wanted to upgrade to something better. But even though I was already following along with Peloton videos on the company's app, I thought getting an actual Peloton was out of reach. Yet as I shopped, I began to change my mind: Even a good off-brand spin bike will start in the high triple digits, and it turns out Pelotons can be rented, or even purchased used. Thus began my quest for a cheaper Peloton, and in the end, I bought a used model I’m very happy with.
Mine cost $950 through a Facebook Marketplace sale in 2022. If I had taken the time to shop around and negotiate more, I likely could have found one for less. (Used Pelotons are also a lot cheaper now than they were then.) But before I could find a Bike to buy, there were a lot of questions that needed answering. Let me take you on a tour through my shopping process.
The difference between the Peloton Bike and the Bike+
Before you start shopping, you’ll need to know if you want a Peloton Bike, or a Peloton Bike+. The Bike is what you probably think of as a normal Peloton; the Bike+ has some additional features and costs about $1,000 more (new). I knew at the start that I wanted a regular Bike, so that narrowed down my shopping.
The Bike+ has its touchscreen on a swivel, so you can do strength or yoga classes next to the bike, instead of having to stand behind it and crane your neck to see over the seat. That said, an All-Access Peloton membership also allows you to watch strength and yoga classes from your phone or another device, so this is a nice-to-have, but not a necessity.
The Bike+ can automatically adjust the resistance as you follow along with a class. With a regular Bike, you have to listen to the instructor tell you what resistance to use, and turn the knob yourself.
The Bike+ has a slightly larger touchscreen (24" versus 22") and a nicer sound system. It also has nicer components throughout, including a faster processor and more RAM.
Do you have to pay a subscription fee to use a Peloton?
Peloton’s Bikes are intended to be used with an All-Access subscription. It costs $44 per month and gives you access to spin classes of all types, scenic rides, and Lanebreak rides (Lanebreak is essentially a video game you play by riding the bike). As noted, the All-Access subscription also comes with the ability to take classes from the Peloton app using your phone or other devices.
If you don’t have a subscription, you can still use the Bike in “Just Ride” mode, which shows you a plain black screen and some basic metrics: your cadence, resistance, output, and time. So if you just want to get a workout in, but you don’t care about consuming Peloton-branded content, you can still do that without paying a monthly fee.
How much you'll pay for a used, new, or refurbished Peloton, or just renting
All of the prices I discuss in this section are current as of May 2024, and are subject to change.
Used Peloton Bikes vary wildly in price and quality. Some are gently used and come with accessories; others may be cheaper but have significant wear and tear. I’m currently seeing asking prices from $500 to $750 for the standard model Bike, and $1,000 to $1,600 for the Bike+ (subscription not included, of course).
New Peloton Bikes run $1,445 for just the Bike, or $1,650 for a “Starter” package that comes with shoes, hand weights, a water bottle, and a mat. (The Bike+ is $2,495, or $2,700 with the Starter package.) Both options include delivery and setup, and a 12-month warranty. They do not include the $44/month All-Access subscription that you’ll need to take the platform’s famous video classes.
Peloton Bike rentals run $89/month ($119/month for the Bike+), plus a one-time $150 delivery and setup fee. The rental includes a pair of cycling shoes and the subscription fee for video content. There is also a warranty for the life of the subscription period.
Peloton certified refurbished bikes are currently going for $995 for the Bike, and $1,595 for the Bike+. Both are a significant savings compared to brand-new. Otherwise, the terms are the same as new bikes: The warranty and delivery fee are included; your All-Access subscription is not.
As you’d expect, used Bikes are cheaper than refurbished, and refurbished is cheaper than new. Where do rentals fall? We need to crunch some more numbers to see.
Is renting Peloton a better deal than buying new or used?
I considered a rental before I started shopping for used Bikes. If you don’t know whether you want a Peloton at all, or if you’re planning on a move soon, the rental might be worth it. Peloton will send someone to come pick up the Bike, for free, if you decide you don’t want it anymore. Rentals may be new or refurbished—Peloton sends you whatever they have, although they promise it’ll be in good condition, even if it has a few dings or scratches. There are options to rent both the Bike and Bike+. Below, I’ll discuss pricing for the regular Bike.
What you need to know about renting a Peloton
You have the option to buy your rental at any time, and the price varies based on how long you’ve been renting. If you decide to buy the Bike the moment it arrives, it will cost you $1,295. At that point you’ll have already paid the $150 delivery fee and probably your first month’s $89 rental fee, meaning the Bike will effectively cost $1,534—similar to the full price of a brand-new Bike. (Remember that your rental Bike might be a new Bike, but it might also be a refurbished model, which sells for less.)
As time goes on, the deal stays about the same: After a year, the buyout price is just $895, but you’ll have already paid $1,218 in rental fees (including the delivery fee). That’s $2,113, but you’ve saved $44/month on the All-Access subscription all along. When you take that into account, you’ve paid the same amount, in total, as if the Bike had cost $1,585 in the first place.
That means buying a brand-new Bike at full price will run you just slightly more than renting and later buying out your rental. The calculus shifts in favor of buying new if you’re able to catch a sale on the Bike, or if you overpay for your rental because you didn’t pay attention to the buyout calendar—the buyout price is $895 anytime between 12 and 24 months into the rental, so it’s a much better deal to buy at 12 months than at 23.
If you aren’t sure whether you’ll want the Bike long term: Rent, and take advantage of the free pickup when you’re done with it. If you like it, you might as well buy it out at one of the price drops, which occur at three, six, 12, and 24 months.
If you know you’ll keep the Bike for years: Go with new, refurbished, or used, depending on your preferences.
Are used Peloton Bikes a good deal?
I ended up buying mine used, so I would say the definitely are. But it depends on a few factors.
The first thing to consider is resale price. When I was shopping for mine, $950 was an excellent deal compared to the new, rental, and refurbished prices. Since then, prices have dropped on the used market and Peloton is offering their refurbished models more cheaply than before. Sales have also been occurring more often.
For the moment, at least, prices on used Pelotons are still high enough that you'll be able to get a significant amount of your money back if you were to decide to sell your Bike or Bike+. That was a big part of my calculus: A used Peloton doesn’t depreciate instantly like a new car. That said, prices have been slowly falling. If I wanted to sell my $950 Bike now, I'd likely get $600 back at best.
Besides the price, though, you might want to consider two other factors that will affect how good a deal you’re getting if you buy used.
Used Bikes don’t come with a warranty
New and refurbished Pelotons come with a 12-month warranty that covers the touchscreen, parts (including pedals), and the labor to replace them. If something breaks, you just contact customer support and they’ll send somebody out to fix your Bike.
The warranty does not transfer to new owners. So even if the original owner has had the Bike for less than a year, you don’t get the benefits of the remaining time on the warranty. However, if the original owner purchased an extended protection plan—which can last up to four years in total—those are transferable. Only the original owner can buy this plan, and only within the first year they own the Bike; you can’t buy one yourself if you’re buying a used Bike. If you’re buying used and the owner is transferring a protection plan, make sure to get their order confirmation number, and don’t be surprised if the asking price is a bit higher than other used Bikes to account for the owner’s extra expense.
Without a warranty or protection plan, you’re on the hook for any repair costs, including labor. I had to replace the bearings on my Bike shortly after I got it, and I believe I paid Peloton around $45 to send me the part I needed. Fortunately, it was easy to install. On the other extreme, if something went wrong with the touchscreen, it would cost $375 to replace, labor not included.
Used Bikes may have wear and tear
A bike is a collection of moving parts, and if you love your Peloton, you’ll put a lot of miles on it. That means a lot of wear.
Peloton Bikes tend to be pretty sturdy, and indoor bikes don’t accumulate as much damage as something you’d ride outside. But it’s still worth considering when you might have to replace parts. If you’re buying a used bike, you’ll want to check these parts for wear:
The pedals should be replaced every year, at least according to Peloton, though most Peloton owners don’t seem to bother. (They certainly seem to last a lot longer than that, but the company is probably keeping in mind its 2020 recall in response to pedals that broke, injuring some riders.)
Speaking of recalls, the seat post on all Peloton bikes was recalled this year because it could break. If you’re buying used, make sure the owner has installed the new post.
The bearings in the center of the flywheel won’t last forever. You can expect them to endure roughly a year of regular use, although this will vary greatly. If a used Bike is a few years old and hasn’t had them replaced, that’s a repair that is probably due. When the bearings start to go, the Bike will still be functional, but it will make a rattling noise as you ride.
Cosmetic damage may also be an issue. There could be dents or scratches on a used bike, worn areas on the handlebars, and so on. Refurbished Bikes may have minor cosmetic issues; all bets are off when it comes to a used Bike.
How old a Bike is too old?
Peloton only has two models of bikes, which makes shopping easy. Both the original Bike and the Bike+ have a large touchscreen that plays videos of the workouts and shows you statistics about your ride.
The models haven’t changed much over the years, with one exception. The Generation 1 Bikes are no longer supported; the software in their touchscreens will no longer be updated. These Bikes have an orange power button at the top of the touchscreen, and were manufactured before September 2016. If you own a Bike with this touchscreen and are a paying Peloton member (even if you weren’t the original owner), Peloton will give you a $350 credit toward a new, modern touchscreen.
As long as the used Bike doesn’t have that older touchscreen, any model you buy used is going to be basically equivalent to what’s for sale now. Note that some of the Bikes in used listings may say "gen 1", but as long as their touchscreen has the gray button on the back instead of the orange button on top, they're fine.
Where to find used Peloton Bikes
There are plenty for sale on places like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, and there are also Peloton-related Facebook groups that allow members to post Bikes for sale. Check anywhere you would look for used items, like OfferUp and the local search options on Ebay.
As with any sale on these platforms, watch out for scams. When I was browsing listings to update this post, I found plenty of Bikes listed with a price of $129 and a description that glowingly praised the site where the seller had originally bought it. Yeah, that was just an ad for that site—which turned out not to sell Pelotons at all, but haha! Made you look! In any case, make sure you're dealing with a real person, and don’t pay anything until you’ve seen the Bike in person and are sure you want to buy it.
What to ask the seller of a used Bike
When you’re looking at a specific used Bike, Peloton's history tool (still in beta) may be able to tell you about the history of a Bike or Bike+ if you know the serial number. You'll have to ask the seller for the number, and then cross your fingers and hope that it's one of the Bikes included in the beta program. Besides that, here are some things to ask to make sure you’re getting a good deal.
Are you the original owner?
There’s nothing wrong with buying a Bike that has been through multiple owners, except that it’s harder to document where it actually came from. Peloton recommends you ask the owner to show you proof of the original purchase. They warn that rental Bikes aren’t supposed to be sold, and if you buy one, you won’t be able to activate a subscription on it.
This question can also kick off a conversation about why they are selling the bike, and how well it has worked for them over the years. Which brings us to...
How many rides has this Bike had?
There’s going to be a difference in wear-and-tear between a Bike that was ridden a few times, versus a Bike that gets hours of use every day. You don’t need to know the exact number, but it can be good to get a sense of how much use the bike has seen.
The bike doesn’t come with an odometer, but you can ask when it was purchased and how many rides the owner has done on it. (Their Peloton profile will tell them how many rides they’ve done, but remember that they may also have family members who ride as well.) Once Peloton's history tool is out of beta, it should be able to give you this information as well.
Have any recalled parts been replaced?
Peloton Bikes’ seat posts (but not the Bike+) were recalled in 2023. Although the rollout was slow, most people should have gotten their new ones by now. You can check whether the seat post is the newest type by looking at the bottom-most measuring line on the post.
While you’re at it, check whether the pedals have an orange Peloton logo. If so, they were part of the 2020 pedal recall and should have been replaced.
This is also a good time to ask about repairs, in general. Has anything broken, and if so, was it fixed and when? Does the Bike have any ongoing problems?
Can I ride it?
Hop on the bike (don’t worry about the shoes for now) and turn the pedals. Do they move smoothly, without clanking noises that might indicate bad bearings? Does the big red knob turn smoothly? Does the screen have any chips or cracks?
Peloton also recommends checking that the adjustment levers and screws move smoothly, and that there aren’t any signs of overtightening like cracks. Check that the power cable is in good shape, and that the bike is clean and appears well-cared for.
How to move a Peloton
If you decide to take the Bike home with you, proceed carefully. These suckers are heavy, weighing about 140 pounds. Most of that weight is in the flywheel at the front, so be aware of that when carrying it with a partner.
Peloton has a guide to moving Bikes here. Importantly, you’ll want to remove the touchscreen first. I wrapped mine in towels and put it in the front seat of my car; the rest of the Bike went in the back. They also recommend taking off the water bottle holders and the cage on the back that holds the dumbbells. Lower the handlebars and seat to their lowest position, and tighten all the adjustment levers so nothing moves in transit. I didn’t remove the pedals, but they say you should.
How to transfer a Peloton to a new owner
Peloton recommends doing a factory reset on a Bike before it changes hands. Go to Settings > System > Factory Reset. When you set your Bike up at home, follow the prompts on the screen to register the Bike and set up your new subscription.
If you already have a subscription to the Peloton app, make sure to cancel it; that doesn’t always happen automatically.
What else you'll need to buy to enjoy your Peloton
You’ll want cycling shoes. They don’t have to be Peloton brand (the standard Peloton shoes kind of suck, if we’re being honest), but they do need Delta LOOK cleats to fit the pedals. That said, you can replace the pedals with another type if you prefer. If you plan to ride a lot, padded cycling shorts are also a good idea.
Peloton’s cycling classes sometimes involve small handheld dumbbells; these should come with your bike. If you want to do the strength classes, though, you’ll want bigger dumbbells. Peloton makes its own branded dumbbells with square ends, but the workouts work just as well with any dumbbells you care to buy from the store.
You may want a mat to put under your Bike to protect your floor from dripping sweat. You’ll likely also want a towel, a water bottle, and maybe a heart rate chest strap to sync with the Bike (even my cheapo strap syncs just fine).
Ready to put together an arms-and-shoulders workout? I’ve already given you the lowdown on the best bicep exercises, best tricep exercises, and best shoulder exercises. Today I’ll give you a formula to combine them, and it’s customizable so you can swap in your favorites if you don’t love mine.
We’re going to start with a heavy(ish) compound exercise that works your arms and shoulders together. Then we’ll move on to moderately heavy exercises, starting with the ones that didn’t get hit very hard on the compound. We’ll superset exercises where we can, to save time. It will look something like this:
Shoulder press of your choice - 5 sets, heavy, anywhere between 3-8 reps, with 2 minutes of rest between sets.
(optional) Rear delt work - 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Bicep/tricep superset - 3 sets of 8-12 reps each
Shoulder superset - 3 sets of 10+ reps each
(optional) Light bicep/tricep superset - 3 sets of 12-15 reps each
For a 30 minute workout, skip the optional sections and just do a shoulder press, bicep/tricep superset, and a shoulder superset. The first 15 minutes will be spent on the shoulder press and the rests between sets; the other components you can speed through with basically no rest.
To get more work in, take some extra time and do the optional sections. If you try that and find you’re recovering well, it’s fine to add more bi/tri supersets or double up on any of the components of the workout that you’d like to spend more time on.
How this fits into your week: Once a week is okay, but this workout should ideally be done twice per week. It’s also fine to do this workout once, and a different upper-body workout another time.
Note that this workout does not target your chest and back, so it’s not a full upper body workout. You could do this in a rotation that goes:
Arms and shoulders
Legs
Chest and back
(rest or repeat)
How to turn this into a full upper-body workout: replace one or both of the bicep/tricep supersets with a push/pull superset that uses chest and back muscles. We’ll discuss this when we get to that section.
Read on for more detail on each component of the workout, and the choices that you have for each section.
Part 1: the press
You can do any kind of shoulder press or overhead press here, with any appropriate equipment. Here are some good choices for the press:
Standing barbell strict press
Seated dumbbell shoulder press (upright, not incline)
Standing single or double kettlebell press
Z-press (seated on the floor with legs spread for stability)
Landmine press (my top pick for anyone with shoulder pain when their arms are directly overhead)
If you have another favorite press, feel free to swap it in. I don’t recommend push presses here; keep your knees straight on any of those standing presses. Push presses are great, but not right now.
Rest time: 2 minutes or more. This press at the beginning of the workout is meant to be a heavy exercise for strength building (we’ll do some pump work later) so make sure you’re taking adequate rest between sets.
Reps per set: about 5. Keep the reps in the single digits. You could go as low as 3 reps per set, but I wouldn’t go much higher than 8. If you want to think of this as a “5x5” routine, that may help you remember.
Weight to use: Anything that lets you get the desired number of reps. It’s okay to use a different weight for each set if you like, but try to make your last set the heaviest.
How to progress: Choose your own adventure. Look at last week’s workout, and add weight or reps to at least one set. For example:
Last week you did 50 pounds for 8 reps on all five sets. This week, go with 55 pounds for your last two sets and see how many reps you can get.
Last week you did five reps each at 20, 25, 30, 30, 30 pounds. This week, do five reps each at 25, 30, 30, 30, 35.
Sure, you could do a straightforward double progression, but I like to give myself the option to change things up based on how things are feeling. Variety is fun and can be good for us.
Your deltoids are the muscles that sit on top of your shoulder like a big 1980s shoulder pad, and they’re each made of three parts: front, side, and rear. The front and side delts get a pretty good workout from overhead pressing, so at this point in our workout the rear delts can use some extra love. Here are some good options:
Bent-over dumbbell reverse fly
Reverse fly, supported on an incline bench (lay face-down)
Band pullaparts
Face pulls on a cable machine
Reverse fly on a machine such as a pec deck
Rest time: 90 seconds or less. If you think you’ll get bored waiting, grab a pair of dumbbells and so some curls in between sets.
Reps and weight: 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps. Weight can be anything that gets you the appropriate number of reps per set.
How to progress: Add weight or reps each time. If you’re using a resistance band, you’ll have to go by feel, but work toward using a stronger band or a narrower grip over time.
Part 3: bicep/tricep superset
Here’s where we get to the fun stuff! You can pick anything for these. Some classic isolation exercises for biceps:
Barbell curls (or ez-bar curls)
Bayesian curls, described here (it’s a cable curl from a stretched position)
Dumbbell curls
Hammer curls
Zottman curls
Cable curls
And for triceps:
Skullcrushers
Overhead dumbbell tricep extensions
French press
Tricep kickbacks
Cable pushdowns
If your goal today is to work only arms and shoulders, stick to those lists. But if you’re trying to turn this into a general upper-body workout that includes chest and back, go with a pull exercise instead of bicep isolation, such as:
Chinups
Pullups
Seated cable rows
Barbell bent-over rows or Pendlay rows
Kroc rows
And go with a push exercise instead of a tricep isolation:
Close grip bench press
Dips
Pushups
Incline or overhead press (choose a different variation from what you did at the beginning of the workout)
We’ll do another bis/tris superset at the end of the workout, so you can always go with a push/pull here and save the isolations for the other superset.
Rest time: As needed. Try resting 30 seconds after doing both exercises, but no rest in between.
Reps and weight: 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, with a weight that lets you complete the desired number of reps. You can go with a wider range (5 to 15?) if you prefer.
How to progress: Add reps each time, and when you can do three strong sets at the top of your rep range, add weight or change the difficulty (for example, try diamond pushups).
For this, we’re going to steal one of the two shoulder supersets from my best shoulder workouts post. The one most people will choose is the classic three-head deltoid isolation:
Dumbbell front raise
Dumbbell lateral raise
Bent-over dumbbell reverse fly
Do these in a circuit, moving immediately from one exercise to the next without putting the dumbbells down. I like to choose a different starting point for each round: maybe front/lateral/rear the first time, lateral/rear/front the second time, and so on. Don’t worry if the number of reps varies from set to set; fatiguing your shoulders is more important than counting reps.
Rest time: As needed between circuits, about 30 seconds.
Reps and weight: Aim for 10-15 reps of the first exercise, and then keep going with that weight even if it means your reps drop off (maybe 15, 12, 10 during the first round, 12, 10, 8 the second round…it’s all good).
How to progress: When you’re easily getting more than 15 reps on multiple sets, add weight.
Part 5 (optional): light bicep/tricep superset
For this finisher, we’re doing another bicep/tricep superset, but this time with lighter weight. Refer to the list of options above, but choose different exercises than the ones you did earlier in the workout. Maybe you did pushups and pullups before, so you’ll do Zottman curls and skullcrushers this time.
I’m going to give you two options for how to set this up:
Rest, reps, and weight, option 1: 3 sets of 12 or more reps. Rest at least 30 seconds between supersets. Add weight when you can do 15+ reps for all three sets.
Rest, reps, and weight, option 2: Choose a weight that you think you can handle for at least one set of 15. Set a timer for 5 minutes and do as many sets as possible, with as little rest as possible, until time is up. Expect your reps to drop sharply—maybe you do 15 at the beginning, but can only manage 3 at the end. The point is to keep moving as much as you can within the 5 minutes.
So there you have it: a full arms-and-shoulders workout, modifiable to a full upper-body workout, that you can do in as little as 30 minutes or enhance with extra sets to fill out an hour or more at the gym. Keep track of your progress in a notebook or on an app (or even a note in your phone) and enjoy seeing your arms and shoulders get stronger over time.
In her fortnightly review of fitness and wellbeing activities, comedian Jennifer Wong overcomes her apprehension of‘whorish vagina dancing’ – and then the gloves come off
“Ever since we invented clothes, we’ve been looking for sexy ways to take them off,” Evana De Lune says. It’s Sunday morning and about 20 of us have risen early for De Lune’s burlesque 101.
We’re all here for different reasons. A few women in their 50s want to step out of their comfort zone and rediscover who they are. “I just want to reclaim my confidence again as a woman because I’ve really lost that,” one says. A woman in her 30s says she was inspired by the Christina Aguilera movie Burlesque, and a beginner pole dancer wants to learn what to do with her hands.
Gyms, workout classes and pools can make even the most confident of people self conscious. Here are expert tips to make you happier
Outdoor runners have got their euphoria. In every other setting, exercise unleashes a load of more complicated emotions, many of them very strong. To be a novice in a class or at the gym is to be in an extremely vulnerable state: one mean look can send you home, a clique of friends can make you feel like an outsider. When you know what you’re doing, it fills you with a powerful self-satisfaction, but when you have an environment in which half the people are poleaxed by insecurity, and the other half are much too secure, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Nobody can change that, but etiquette does help. Here are the experts’ rules on the etiquette of fitness environments.
The iconic location for a fitness tracker is on your wrist, but not everybody enjoys wearing a watch, or is allowed to at work. (Cooks and surgeons, I see you.) Or maybe you like watches so much you’d rather wear a real watch on your wrist, and have your fitness tracker live somewhere else. Fortunately, you have tons of options.
Some are devices that are never worn on the wrist, like the ring trackers that have become popular lately. Others were designed for the wrist, but can be worn elsewhere with aftermarket bands or clips. Let’s review your options for rings, clips, bicep bands, ankle straps, and even clothing.
Use an ankle strap
If you already have a gadget you love, maybe all you need is a new strap. When I started doing a lot of kettlebell work, I managed to wrestle my Apple Watch wristband onto my ankle—something that will definitely not work for all body types. Fortunately, you can buy an extended band for your Apple Watch, or for a variety of fitness trackers. Here’s one for a Fitbit Charge 5, for example.
Besides using it on your ankle, the same band can be used on your arm. (It’s the same idea as what Whoop calls a “bicep band,” but to be anatomically correct I must note that you wear it above, not on your bicep.)
Pros: Tracks steps and can usually pick up heart rate (depending on exactly how it sits against your skin—you may need to experiment with positioning)
Cons: inconvenient to look at the watch or use any interactive features. You may need to sit down to pause your workout. Also, some models of wearables may not have an aftermarket band available.
Try a fitness ring
I’m a longtime fan of the Oura ring (it’s a tough love, but love nonetheless) so this is the route I’ve taken. Wearing a watch 24/7 drives me nuts, but I can completely ignore a ring. If Oura isn’t your style, Ultrahuman and others provide high-end alternatives. There are also a ton of budget rings on the market now, like this from Zopsc.
Pros: Easy to put on and take off. Feels like it’s not there (if you are used to wearing rings).
Cons: Can’t wear it while lifting weights. The nicer rings carry a high price point.
Clip it to your belt
Fitbit used to sell models that counted your steps from a clip on your belt or bra. (I remember loving the bra clip on a now-defunct brand, Misfit.) You can still get an aftermarket clip for some Fitbit and Garmin models, like the Inspire. Just pop it out of its wristband, and into a clip like this one.
Pros: Counts steps well, no matter what your hands are doing.
Cons: No access to heart rate data, or anything that requires the skin sensor. Might end up in the laundry if you forget to take it off your waistband.
Wear it in your clothes
Whoop’s tracker is normally worn on the wrist or bicep, but the company also has a “Body” line of clothes with little pockets you can slip the device into. The company sent me one of their bras back when the collection launched, and I was able to slip my Whoop device (minus its strap) into a little pocket in the band, under the left armpit. It was comfortable, stayed in place, and the data collection was good.
Their other offerings include shorts and underwear with a device pocket in the waistband, and even a swimsuit with the device pocket in approximately the same place as the bra. If you’re handy with a needle and thread, you could easily make your own versions of these items.
Pros: No extra straps to keep track of. You can definitely forget you’re wearing it.
Cons: The buttons and display aren’t accessible (which is why this works so well with Whoop, since Whoop has no buttons or display). You’ll need to plan ahead to have your Whoop-compatible undies on, and you’ll want to have duplicates to deal with the laundry cycle.
After two divorces and an eating disorder, Marlene Flowers knew a change was needed. Her son suggested she start building her strength and she soon found her self-confidence growing ...
In 2021, at 64 years old, Marlene Flowers entered her first bodybuilding competition. Oiled, tanned and wearing a bikini, the auto repair shop owner from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, found herself under bright lights on stage, twisting and contorting to show off her taut muscles alongside people half her age. Once the flexing was over, she then performed a one-minute posing routine to the theme song from Flashdance, one of her favourite films. “I was terrified to get out there but as soon as I did, I realised everyone was so encouraging and supportive,” she says. “We all wanted each other to succeed and I walked away with a trophy.”
If you had told Flowers when she was in her 50s that she would be inviting people to judge her figure, she would have laughed in your face. She had a natural aptitude for freestyle swimming as a child, but struggled with her body image. Self-conscious and often shy, Flowers went on to marry and divorce twice. “It all affected my self-esteem and I ended up with an eating disorder for many years,” she says. “It was getting worse and worse until I was hospitalised for issues relating to my weight loss at 58. That was my wake-up call.”
Memorial Day weekend is here, and for whatever reason, that means retailers are kicking off a bunch of sales on just about everything, including fitness equipment. So if you were waiting for prices to dip on gym gear, now is your moment.
Personal gym gear
A weightlifting belt can help you to lift more in the gym by providing something to brace against. The best belts run upwards of $100, but if you're not sure whether a belt is for you, I'd snag an inexpensive one and see how you like it. This four-inch, double prong belt looks like a fine one to start with.
And if you're in the market for a new gym bag, take a look at this Fila model that comes in unobtrusive black or loud '90s-style turquoise and purple. Both have multiple pockets, with a ventilated shoe tunnel for your wet or dirty gear.
Are you into pickleball? I hear everybody is into pickleball. (I plan to sit this trend out, but I'm glad you're all having fun.) Here's a good deal on a paddle and ball set, more than half off:
The walking pad market has exploded lately, and there are tons of these mini treadmills available at lower and lower price points. We have a guide here that explains the difference between these and regular treadmills. Be aware that many of them have limited walking speeds, low weight limits, and short lengths. That said, if you're looking for something to walk on while you work, a slow-paced treadmill might be just the thing. Here's a great option that is on sale this weekend:
If you'd like to pick up a regular treadmill this weekend, there are options here as well. The treadmills below can all reach reasonable running speeds, and can incline at least a little bit (some up to 15%).
Before you ask me but isn’t her form on those exercises terrible? (and I will answer that question!) I would like to invite you to ask yourself something first.
That question is: Why is she posting these exercise videos? There are many right answers, but the way I see it, she’s using exercise as a symbol—as a way of moralizing. Consider this one, in which she’s claiming to show strength in the face of persecution (the persecution being that extremists are being labeled as extremists, and she’s one of them). Or take yesterday’s clip—the one posted after another congresswoman referred to an unspecified someone as having a “bleach blonde, bad built butch body.” The caption on the clip is about how Greene is “built and strong.” The implication here is that her fitness level makes her a better person.
But that’s all bullshit. You’re not a better or worse person—a stronger person in a moral sense—because of what you can or cannot do in the gym. Think about that for a minute. Now ask me again to critique her form. You really want to hear that she’s doing her exercises incorrectly, because that would give you a satisfying feeling of superiority: Maybe you can’t do a perfect power clean, but you’d love to hear that MTG has tried and failed. Would that make her a worse person? (Can she be a worse person?)
Let’s stop moralizing “form”
What is it supposed to say about a person, that they have terrible “form” when they do an exercise? Steeped as I am in the fitness world, I’ve heard it all. People who have bad form—that is, people who do an exercise incorrectly—are too stupid to figure out how to do the lifts correctly, or they have too big an ego to follow directions. They disregard the sacred rules of (checks notes) playing with heavy toys while thinking that they know better than the rest of us. They’re going to get hurt, and it will be their fault, and they will deserve it!
Together, these sentiments amount to a high drama policing of the tiniest actions of other people’s bodies. If somebody squats but doesn’t get their hips below their knees, who are they hurting? If a teenager picks up a weight too big to strict curl, and uses momentum to swing it into position…so what? Those people might not be training in the most effective way (or maybe they are, but that’s a bombshell for another day), but there’s no reason to feel personally offended just because it is happening next to you in the gym.
(I will now pause while everybody scrolls down to the comments to tell me why I am wrong, actually, and the form police must save such people from themselves. Never mind that there’s no evidence that “wrong” exercises or form increase injury risk. Dire warnings about the danger are based pretty much entirely on wishful thinking and a desire to dunk.)
Sometimes a person using bad form is a person who is still learning the lift. Other times they are doing a lift you don’t personally understand—for example, somebody doing kipping pullups does not have the same goal as somebody who is doing strict pullups, and both are valid exercises for different reasons. I can do 10 strict pullups. I can’t string together more than three or four kipping pullups. They’re more gymnastic skill than strength work, and both are legit forms of athleticism. Even “ego lifting” isn’t all bad—it’s okay to test your limits in the gym! It’s okay to have fun! Lay off!
But her form is terrible, right?
Look, the only thing you need to know about MTG is that she is a right-wing political extremist and professional troll who does not belong anywhere near a role in government due to her toxic views and her attempts to inflict real harm on the American public. This is true whether or not she is good at Crossfit.
And this is where I must deliver the worst news you’ll read today: She’s good at Crossfit, actually. Or at least, not any worse than the average person at your local functional fitness gym. As I told Jezebel back when Greene posted that anti-vaccine clip, her lifts, and even her butterfly pullups, are also fine.
The most recent video is of her doing power cleans, an exercise adapted from Olympic weightlifting that is a workhorse of not just weightlifting and Crossfit workouts, but also athletic teams’ weight rooms everywhere. For comparison, here’s a video of me doing the same exercise:
Since I am certified as a USA Weightlifting Level 2 coach (yes, I’m pulling rank here), I can look at her power cleans and note a few areas for improvement. She could use her legs a little more in the initial push off the floor, for example; crossfitters are notorious for a sort of forward-bouncing bar path that wouldn’t be considered ideal in the competitive weightlifting world. I think my power cleans are better, but to be totally fair, there are things I could improve as well. We both do our power cleans worse than world-class weightlifters, but better than your average high school football player.
Does knowing that change how you feel about MTG? Do you now join her in believing that the 2020 election was stolen, or that we urgently must take healthcare away from pregnant and trans people? Of course not, because none of that had anything to do with whether she was performing her power cleans correctly.
Exercise is a healthy and, one might argue, necessary part of our lives. The guidelines from public health organizations tell you to aim for at least 150 minutes of “moderate” exercise each week, and that each minute of “vigorous” exercise counts double. That raises the question: What the hell is “moderate” exercise? How do you know when you’re doing it?
It’s not really about heart rate
The short answer, which is only slightly incorrect, is to say that “moderate” exercise is the same thing as “zone 2” cardio, which I’ve previously explained. (Zone 2 is is the second-lowest intensity in a five-zone system, and you need a heart rate monitor to know which zone you’re in.)
While “zone 2” and “moderate” are both wide ranges of intensity, they do overlap a good bit. If I had to pick which heart rate zone most closely matches “moderate” intensity exercise, I’d pick zone 2. But that doesn’t mean it’s the same thing.
Science measures “moderate” and “vigorous” in terms of METs
The research that led to these guidelines didn’t use heart rate as its metric. Instead, these scientists measured exercise in terms of metabolic equivalents, or METs.
One MET is the energy expended when you’re at rest—the amount of oxygen, calories, etc that it takes to keep you alive and breathing. (We use oxygen in the process of burning calories, so officially a MET is 3.2 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute.)
Researchers can then put an oxygen mask on a person and measure how much oxygen they use while running, walking, playing guitar, etc. If an activity takes twice as much oxygen as sitting still, they say it takes two METs. Here are a few examples (taken from this scientific paper):
2 MET: washing dishes, playing croquet
3 MET: walking at 3 miles per hour (a pretty typical walking pace)
4 MET: table tennis, ice skating
5 MET: modern dance, fast-paced ballroom dance
6 MET: volleyball, singles tennis
7 MET: jogging, jumping rope
The numbers go up from there. Speed skating clocks in at 15 MET. To be clear, you will not be measuring METs directly when you exercise. The MET studies are done in labs so that we can use the information to get a sense of what MET values each common type of exercise tends to have.
Moderate exercise is 3 to 6 MET, and vigorous is 6 or more
Because METs are specific to the activity, not to how fit you are, it makes the most sense to look at METs in terms of the pace you run or the settings you use on your treadmill or other cardio machine. Here are paces and activities that have been clocked as between 3 and 6 METs:
Walking at 3-4 mph (a 15-minute to 20-minute mile)
Cycling, between 50 to 100 watts
Shooting baskets
Playing baseball
Taking a low-impact aerobics class
And these are vigorous (6 or more MET):
Race walking (5+ mph)
Walking uphill
Walking with a 12-pound pack
Jogging (a 12-minute mile is 8.0 MET; the faster you go, the higher the MET)
So how am I supposed to know when I’m doing moderate exercise if I can’t measure METs?
I’m going to say this again: Your fitness watch can’t measure METs. This is why people so often tell you to target “zone 2” instead—it’s not really correct, but at least it's an easy measurement that you can read off your watch.
In reality, this falls short in two ways: (1) different gadgets and systems use different cutoffs to define "zone 2", and (2) for most of us, zone 2 includes most moderate activities but also some vigorous activities. If you’re relatively fit, you can jog at a 12 minute-per-mile pace while keeping your heart rate in zone 2. That’s a “vigorous” activity in terms of METs, though.
The other reason heart rate isn’t accurate for this task is that your heart rate changes for all kinds of reasons. The hotter it is when you're working out, the higher your heart rate tends to be. Same goes for when you’re nervous or stressed. And as you get fitter, you’ll be able to do the same activities at a lower heart rate. Those activities might feel easier than they used to, but they’re not any less work.
Walking is moderate, jogging or running is vigorous.
Bicycling is moderate if it’s under about 12 miles per hour on the flat
Indoor cycling is moderate if it’s up to about 100 watts of power
All that said, you don’t have to overthink it. Those guidelines that mention “moderate” and “vigorous” activities aren’t asking you to monitor your heart rate or any other numeric metric. They want you thinking in terms of generalities: walking versus running, leisurely bike commuting versus sweating your heart out in a spin studio.
And honestly, if it’s easier to watch your heart rate than to worry about the above, that’s fine. For most of us, 150 minutes of Zone 2 is going to be at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise. So follow that guideline, and you’ll be an overachiever.
From dementia to mild cognitive impairment, it’s easy to be terrified of what ageing will do our minds. But the vast majority of us can reduce the danger – especially if we look after our bodies
Like a lot of people who are getting on, I find myself wondering about my brain. If I mislay my glasses, or struggle with a name, is it just common-or-garden forgetfulness – the sort of slip I might have made well before hitting 60 – or something more worrying?
Why, I think, did I have to ask my wife to remind me what we’re doing for her birthday? Why can’t I remember if I locked the front door? Why did I fail to send that email I desperately need an answer to?
To lift weights at home, first you need the weights. That’s simple enough—if you’re into barbell lifts, just buy a barbell set.
But your next problem is figuring out how you squat. Squatting typically involves a squat rack, and that’s a luxury many home gymmers don’t have. THat doesn't mean you have to forgo squatting altogether though. Let’s look at your options.
Before I get into it, note that none of the options I'll be discussing include safeties, which a real squat rack would have. That’s okay, because they all assume that you are either working with light enough weights that you won’t fail your lift, or that you know how to bail out by dumping the weight if you can’t complete the rep. This is a learnable skill, and it won’t damage your equipment if you use bumper plates—keep that in mind if you’re living the no-rack life.
Get squat stands instead of a rack
A solid squat rack is an investment, so I understand not wanting to splurge on one right away. (Heck, my own pandemic home gym went without a squat rack for about a year—not because I decided against one, but because it didn’t occur to me that a squat rack might be affordable or feasible in my small garage.)
The truth is, supports for squatting aren’t nearly as expensive as you might think. You can order a pair of lightweight but strong squat stands like these for $50 to $60, or make your own out of concrete and 2x4s. I've gone on the record saying a good squat rack is worth the investment, but I also believe that makeshift stands like these are an excellent stopgap if you aren’t ready to take that step.
Pros: Cheap, lightweight, can move out of the way for storage. The only limit to the amount of weight you can squat this way is the limit of the equipment
Cons: Not free. You also don’t get to learn any strange new skills, like the options below.
Clean the weight and do front squats
Olympic lifters and Crossfitters will probably be most comfortable with this option: Instead of squatting with the bar on your back, clean the bar into a front rack position. That means you grab it while it’s on the ground, launch it upwards, and catch it on your shoulders, just in front of your neck.
The ending position of a clean is the same as the starting position for front squats, so you can then do as many reps of front squats as you like.
The main problem with this approach is that if you aren’t a weightlifter or Crossfitter, you probably aren’t very good at cleans. It takes time, practice, and ideally some good coaching to get efficient enough at cleans to be able to handle a realistic weight for front squats. If you’re committed to lifting without a squat rack, this is a skill worth learning. Otherwise, you might want to check out the other options.
Pros: Easy if you know how to do it. Lets you make the most of a small amount of weight (front squats are harder than back squats at the same weight).
Cons: Requires you to be pretty good at cleans. Also, this doesn’t give you a way to do heavy back squats.
Zercher squats
The zercher is often seen as esoteric—an odd lift only done by odd people. But it’s actually a solid option for squats, whether or not you have a rack available. Sometimes called a “low bar front squat,” it lets you go a lot heavier than a regular front squat, but you don’t need to know how to clean a barbell to get the weight into position.
How to do zercher squats:
Stand in front of the bar with your feet wider than your arms (same idea as a sumo deadlift, but you don’t have to get as wide as sumo deadlifters do).
Deadlift the bar.
Bend your knees so that you’re in a squatting position, and set the bar down into your lap.
One at a time, slip each arm between your legs and under the bar.
Now that the bar is in the crooks of your elbows, stand up. You’ve completed your first rep.
For subsequent reps, just bend and straighten your knees as you would in a normal squat. (No need to return the bar to the ground each rep, although you can if you want.)
If your first thought is “ow, that would hurt my elbows,” well, you’re right—at first. Turns out the elbows adapt; people who zercher squat regularly find that it’s not really a problem. You can always wrap the bar in a towel or barbell pad, or wear elbow sleeves for extra cushioning. If I haven’t zerchered in a while, I’ll sometimes wear a sweatshirt and slip my knee sleeves over my elbows. Anyway, you get used to it.
Pros: Free. No special skills required. Heavy weights are possible. You get to do a deadlift with every set.
Cons: Elbows might hurt. You have to do a deadlift with every set.
Steinborn squats
Alright, now this one is an odd lift for odd people. You could become one of those people, though.
To do tit, you’ll need a clear space around you, non-slip flooring, and just enough bravery and stupidity to think “sure, what the hell, I probably won’t die.” (It will not surprise readers to hear that I check all three boxes, and thus have gone on to set a national record in my weight class in this lift.)
To be fair, it’s not as dangerous as it looks. You do need a little bit of practice to know how to stabilize the bar and center yourself underneath it, but I found it easier to learn than the Olympic clean discussed above. Would this be my first pick for somebody who wants to squat and doesn’t have a squat rack? No. But is it a viable option for a person who thinks it’s cool? Absolutely.
Pros: Free. Heavy weights are possible. Impress your friends, scare your neighbors.
Cons: Requires plenty of space and nerves of steel. Scares your neighbors.
Squat alternatives I don’t recommend
The following things are not replacements for barbell squats, in my opinion:
Barbell hack lifts are behind-the-back deadlifts. They involve the quads a little more than a regular deadlift, but they’re not squats.
Trap bar deadlifts, ditto. Great as a deadlift variation, but not a squat.
Goblet squats. These are a fine exercise, but if you’re strong enough to do barbell squats, goblets probably aren’t going to cut it as a main lift.
Lifting the bar over your head and onto your back: If you can do this, the weight is too light for a heavy set of squats.
Not-quite-squat options that are still great
The following are exercises that aren’t the same as normal barbell squats, but they’ll still build strong legs and are worth considering as you explore your options.
Bulgarian split squats: these can be done with lighter weights than regular squats, so dumbbells or a relatively light barbell can do the job.
Leg press machines, any kind (I’m including the hack squat machine here). If your gym has a leg press but no squat rack, these would be my first pick for a squat replacement.
Pistol squats: I find these to be too hard on the knees to fully replace squats, but they’ll certainly give your legs a serious challenge.
Lunges and step-ups: This type of single leg work is always challenging to the quads, and doesn’t require as much weight as two-legged squats.
I’d also like to give an honorable mention to Arthur lifts. This is where you hack lift the bar until you can get it onto your lower back, then bounce it up to your shoulders. From there, you can squat it normally. Honestly, this only didn’t make the main list because I don’t personally like it. I consider it more painful than a Zercher and scarier than a Steinborn. But if you are intrepid enough to try it, knock yourself out.
When it comes to soothing sore muscles, I have two go-tos: heat, and massage. I’ve always had to enjoy those things separately, though. For a quick and easy "massage," a foam roller does the trick; and for heat, I use a heat pad or, on my way to and from the gym, the heated seats in my car. But now there’s a product that combines them, and it’s genius: the HotRock heated roller.
Technically it’s not a “foam” roller, because it’s not made of foam. It’s a hard plastic cylinder, hollow inside, that plugs into the wall. One end has a little screen (to display the temperature) and four buttons to turn it on and control it. The other end has a door, inside which you’ll find the attached power cord.
So, yes, you need a wall outlet to use this thing. (Sort of. More on that in a minute.) It’s the size of a pretty standard mini foam roller, a little under 13 inches long. The heated area, supplied by wires that wrap around it underneath the cover, is about the middle 6 inches of the roller. If you’re hoping to warm up a wide area, say your upper back, you’ll need to make multiple passes.
The outside of the roller is encased in faux leather (“marine-grade vinyl,” they call it) and it’s allegedly removable—although it seems to be a pretty tight fit. Dirt and debris wipe off, so you don’t need to remove the sleeve for cleaning.
How to use the HotRock heated roller
Credit: Beth Skwarecki
HotRock sent me a roller to test. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, I opened the little door, pulled out the power cord, and plugged it into the wall. The HotRock came with a drawstring bag that’s supposed to hold heat in while it’s warming up, so I used that as instructed.
Here’s the basic procedure:
Plug the cord (found inside the little door) into a wall outlet.
Press the power button to turn on the LCD screen.
Select the temperature (between 125 and 175 degrees, in 10-degree increments).
If you want to use it for more than 30 minutes, press the timer button and use the up and down arrows to set the time (up to 180 minutes).
Optionally, slip the drawstring bag around it while it warms up.
When the roller is up to temperature, take it out of the bag. You can use it while it’s still plugged in.
How long does it take the HotRock to heat up?
The HotRock is advertised as heating to 175 degrees in just five minutes, but I found it took a bit longer—around eight minutes with the drawstring bag. (The company says that it will feel like it’s up to temperature a few minutes before the internal sensor reports the same number.)
If you want a lower temperature, it will get there more quickly. I found it got to 130 degrees in about three minutes.
How hot should I set the HotRock?
The top setting of 175 was great for rolling my back through layers of clothes, but that was definitely too hot to be comfortable on bare skin. I found the lowest setting of 125 to be perfect to roll a bare leg.
There are other heated massage tools out there, like this microwaveable MojiHeat, but they don’t get as hot—MojiHeat gets up to 140 degrees for 30 minutes. If you want the higher settings or the longer time, the HotRock is a better option—but it’s nearly double the price, and you have to deal with the power cord.
Is the power cord a problem?
You would think the cord would get twisted or tangled if you use the roller while it’s plugged in, but I didn’t find that to be a problem. Usually you’re rolling it back and forth in a small area, and the cord has enough room to move to withstand that just fine. The cord is also long enough that I didn't feel tethered to the wall; nine feet is plenty.
Conveniently, the roller is big enough on the inside that you don't have to wrap or fold the cord carefully. Just stuff it in, it'll be fine.
But since not every location has a wall outlet within nine feet, I wondered if it was possible to use the HotRock after unplugging it. I heated it up to 175, then put the cord away and started a stopwatch. The roller maintained a nice level of heat for several minutes, and around five minutes it was pleasantly warm but no longer anything I’d describe as “hot.” That would be enough for a quick warmup session, if you don’t have access to a wall outlet in the place where you do your foam rolling.
Are there any health benefits to the HotRock?
It’s really just another massage tool, so the benefits are “it feels good.” The evidence on massage for recovery and health is mixed; some sources find it helps recovery or aids in mobility. Most experts would say to use heat and/or massage if they feel good to you.
My only real complaint about this type of device is that when I’m in the mood for heat on a muscle (ahh, relaxing), I’m usually not in the mood to get on the floor and move around, maintaining appropriate pressure on the body part I’m rolling (so much work!). But I know that some of you love your foam rollers, so this might be a welcome addition.
The HotRock website has testimonials from athletes, and honestly the one I found most compelling was the Crossfit coach who gets to the gym before 5 in the morning, and it’s so cold in the winter. She turns on the building heat, makes herself a coffee, and does a rolling session with her heated foam roller. That sounds heavenly.
Pros and cons of the HotRock
Pros
Combines heat and self-massage
Cord stows away easily in the center of the roller
Adjustable heat up to 175 degrees F
Auto-shutoff timer
Cons
No beep to let you know when it’s up to temperature
Need to be near an outlet to use it
Pricey compared to microwaveable rollers
Specs
Temperature settings: 135, 145, 155, 165, 175 degrees
Not everybody has the same reaction to noticing a new muscle pop up on their body. Some love it: “Great, I’m getting jacked!” Some are discouraged: “Oh no, I’m getting bulky.” But everyone should know that building muscle has its benefits, beyond looks and in spite of looks.
Here are seven ways your newfound muscle is a big plus, both for your health and your fitness goals.
Strength and muscle size go together
We’ve all met people who are stronger than they look, and vice versa. This has led to a myth that there are different “kinds” of muscle or strength, as if bodybuilders’ muscles are full of water or fat instead of contractile tissue. (I’m not sure exactly where this myth comes from, but it’s absolutely not true. Muscle is muscle.)
Think of it this way: The bigger the muscle, the harder it can contract. But what you do with that muscle is a matter of skill. Gymnasts are strong, but not every strong person can do a backflip. Boxers are strong, but not every strong person will be able to deliver a knockout punch.
If you train to build muscle size, you will end up increasing your strength. And if you train to build strength, chances are you will end up increasing your muscle size. That doesn’t mean you have to become huge if you don’t want to be; your diet is the main thing that determines whether you look “bulky” or not. But it's reasonable to expect at least a little bit of muscle gain anytime you're challenging your body to get stronger and fitter.
Muscle burns more calories
Muscle’s effect on our metabolism is one of the most frequently-cited benefits of gaining muscle mass, and honestly, I think it’s one of the least important. But let’s dive in, because I know you’re wondering about it.
Yes, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you burn, even at rest. Muscle is a metabolically “expensive” tissue, using a lot of your food as fuel, which means that you can eat more food, and thus get more vitamins, protein, fiber, and other useful nutrients. The more you burn, the better you can eat.
Every pound of muscle you gain will burn an extra 10 or so calories each day—so if you gain 10 pounds of muscle over the course of a few years’ strength training, you’re burning an extra 100 calories each day. This may not make a huge contribution to your daily calorie burn, but it’s something. What’s less appreciated is that the more muscle you have, the more likely you are to take on harder workouts, thus burning even more calories.
I burn about 500 more calories each day now than I did years ago, when I was sedentary, and I certainly haven’t gained 50 pounds of muscle. But the more muscle you have, the more work you can do, and that snowballs. Remember, exercise is good for your health, so the more of it your body can handle, the healthier your heart and your metabolism can become.
Muscle benefits your health even if you don’t lose weight
Losing weight is often said to benefit our health, especially for people who have diabetes, other health conditions, and/or a high BMI. Losing weight can be tough, though, and gaining muscle can help those same health outcomes whether you end up losing weight or not.
For example, this study found that having more muscle mass is associated with lower mortality rates, lower body fat, and a lower likelihood of having diabetes. People with high BMIs and high muscle mass were, in this study, healthier than people who had similarly high BMIs but low muscle mass.
So even if gaining muscle doesn’t come with reduced body fat, it’s still helping you to be healthier. The researchers also speculate that some of the health outcomes we associate with high body fat may actually have more to do with low muscle mass.
This isn’t just an issue for the grey-haired crowd: We lose 3-8% of our muscle every decade starting around age 30, if we don’t train to keep it. The rate of loss typically speeds up after age 60—but, again, people who strength train tend to hang onto their muscle. You might even build more than you had in your youth.
Even if you haven’t hit age 30, think of yourself as putting muscle in the bank that you can use later. Somebody who is strong at age 25 is building the muscle (and the habits that keep them exercising!) that will keep them from being frail at age 75.
Strength training improves bone density
Besides sarcopenia, osteoporosis (a loss of bone mineral density) also contributes to the risk of devastating fractures and to a loss of independence, especially as we age. Muscle loss and bone density loss have been referred to as “musculoskeletal aging,” and it’s at least partially preventable with strength training.
Bone grows stronger when you put stress on it, which is why “weight bearing” activities are commonly recommended for people at risk of osteoporosis. That doesn’t refer specifically to weight training, but rather to activities where you’re supporting your own weight. Walking, running, and jumping are weight bearing. Swimming is not.
But weight training does also improve bone density. Unless you’re great at walking or even jumping on your hands (which, I must note, requires a lot of strength and muscle), a good way to get healthy stress on the bones of your upper body is to do plenty of resistance training. That could include training with barbells, dumbbells, resistance machines, or other tools.
Strong muscles may prevent injury
Injury prevention is a big and nebulous topic, so it’s hard to point at specific evidence that strength training in general reduces injuries in general. But ask any good coach, or any good physical therapist, and they’ll tell you that they encourage their players and patients to build strength to prevent injuries and to recover from them when they happen.
Strength training gives you stronger muscles, bones, and connective tissue like tendons. In a sports context, stronger athletes seem to be more resistant to injury. And even in everyday life—let’s say a person who might slip and fall—being strong and agile makes it easier to avoid unexpected obstacles. You may also have an easier time catching yourself when you begin to fall.
There’s also evidence that exercise, including strength training, is a useful tool in managing back pain, arthritis, and other conditions.
Muscle makes you better at running, yoga, and other activities
Maybe you’re cool with exercise, but still a bit skeptical of the benefits of strength training specifically. You just want to run the trails, take a barre class, maybe do some yoga. Well, muscle helps with those things, too.
If you’re a runner, for example, strength training helps to prevent injuries (including those nagging “overuse” injuries like shin splints and achy knees). More muscle in your legs also means a better ability to run up the hills of those trails and dodge rocks and tree roots on the way down. Stronger runners tend to be better runners.
Or let’s say you’re more into yoga. More strength and muscle will help you to be able to do more advanced poses, to do the medium-difficulty ones more confidently, and to do the easy ones with true ease. Or to put it another way: nobody ever thinks, in the middle of a yoga class, “I wish I had less core strength.”
You get the idea. Rock climbing is more fun when you’ve got more upper body muscle. Cycling is more fun when you have powerful legs. Even outside the formal sports world, muscle helps you to carry mulch in your garden, to load your suitcase overhead without endangering your fellow airplane passengers, to help a friend move without spending the next two days on the couch popping Advil. So when you notice your body gaining a little bit of muscle, just think of all the opportunities it opens for you—not just how it looks.
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